I'm a long time lurker, and reading articles and posts here helped me build my first quiet system a few years ago, an e8200 in a Solo I.

Now I'm looking to upgrade to an i5 3570 (no OC) cooled by a Noctua NH-U12P SE2. I also plan on runnning a mostly quiet (according to reviews) ASUS GTX660-DC2-2GD5 graphics card (no OC or SLI). The computer is for music production mainly, but I love a bit of flight simulation too, thus the GPU. I don't care if it's noisy under GPU load, but when making music, I need it to be quite quiet.

Some things have changed in the 'silent-world' since my last build, but searching for the perfect case, well, it's as hard as the last time.

- The FT-2 is trying something new, and it looks great! But I don't like the idea of warm exhaust not being directed away from me but straight up, my computer is just to the right of my desk. Have anyone been anoyed with that? Price is a concern though not dealbreaker. Pulling air straight from the floor is something that concerns me a bit.- The Fractal Design cases seem to be the new go-to for many. Personally, I'm not fond of the thought of bitumen fumes in the room, call me a wuss. That's a dealbreaker for me.

- Then there's good old Antec, whom Fractal et al. are blatantly ripping off. Alas, it seems development has stood more or less still at Antec, dB-wise. And so I'm looking at Antec's old models again!

I'm seriously considering the Solo II. Only problem is: It's got 2 (two!) HD trays.. Bummer. I mean, removing parts of the old HD-cage to make room for a large GPU was cool, but what about adding trays in the bottom for 2 more? Has anyone added two more themselves while using a long (10" / 25 centimter) modern graphics card? Is there room while maintaining airflow? It's a good thing that they've changed the fans, but they put the switces on the rear, they should be in front. But I imagine I would cut the wires and control them from my ASUS motherboard, it can control 4 fans, each one with individual settings. I wish they made this case 10-15% bigger with two more trays, it would be a great case for a typical computer with a good graphics card.

I'm also considering the p183 v3, and simply ignoring the top blower. Do owners of the v3 cover the top vent, if so, how? Will it be enough to cover it in foil, or have you cut out material to cover it up? If so, did it make any difference, - and is it even needed, in your opinion? Also, I imagine I'd want to replace the Tri-Cools, unless I can keep them low enough in RPMs to stay more or less silent. Since I'm not going to overclock or run SLI, I imagine my load temps will be relatively modest. I wish it came with elastic mounts like in the Solo, I never hear HD seeks from my Solo I. Do you hear seeks in the P183?

Or, do you think that I'm overlooking other issues or cases? Mind you, I've been reading heavily in the SPCR recommended lists, and elsewhere.

The thing is, I hope my relatively moderate setup won't be as hot as the typical gamers' setups that are typically reviewed, but I still need it to perform when the GPU starts loading up. Do you think that I could manage it with a Solo II modded with more trays, or do I need a p183 modded for more silence, and live with the ugly front, he?

Or something else yet, in your experience/opinion? All tips are welcome

Welcome to SPCR. If you haven't already done so, read this article for the gold standard on what can be done with a P183 v3. There are a lot of threads in the forum on DAW builds. It's probably worthwhile reading through some of those, too.

I'm seriously considering the Solo II. Only problem is: It's got 2 (two!) HD trays.. Bummer. I mean, removing parts of the old HD-cage to make room for a large GPU was cool, but what about adding trays in the bottom for 2 more? Has anyone added two more themselves while using a long (10" / 25 centimter) modern graphics card? Is there room while maintaining airflow? It's a good thing that they've changed the fans, but they put the switces on the rear, they should be in front. But I imagine I would cut the wires and control them from my ASUS motherboard, it can control 4 fans, each one with individual settings. I wish they made this case 10-15% bigger with two more trays, it would be a great case for a typical computer with a good graphics card.

I think the Solo II is a great case, the only downside it does have its cable management, there is bearly any room in the back for proper so you gotta get creative with it, and get a modular PSU so you minimize as much as you can having to hide unwated cables.

The solo II biggest strenght imo is its comes with suspension for the hdds, it can hold 2 suspended or 3 with the rails. Personally i think its enough with 2, the more mechnical drives you have the more risk of noise. Thats said there are ton of people that have supended a lot of hdds, so its possible, there is a lot of space between the bottom cage and the floor of the case. But my suggestion goes oposite, in terms of going the least mechanical hdds as you can, maybe new bigger storage drives could help, Seagate Desktop HDD 4 TB SATA 6Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST4000DM000 is what im planning to use to upgrade my server, no reviews from spcr yet, but their 3tb had very good comments and was 7200rpm, this is 5900rpm, some users have decent commments about it, but will see in time. If you were to need more than 8tb.... then i would probably build file server away from you or where your pc will be, with gigabit lan it will be very fast to transfer files etc, this could be really good as you could also use it as streaming station for multiple setup, etc, even backups, etc, for me a server is a must, but to each to its own.

You could also try to suspend on the 5.25, or use a 5.25 hdd silencer like the Scythe QuietDrive.

MusicProducer wrote:

I'm also considering the p183 v3, and simply ignoring the top blower. Do owners of the v3 cover the top vent, if so, how? Will it be enough to cover it in foil, or have you cut out material to cover it up? If so, did it make any difference, - and is it even needed, in your opinion? Also, I imagine I'd want to replace the Tri-Cools, unless I can keep them low enough in RPMs to stay more or less silent. Since I'm not going to overclock or run SLI, I imagine my load temps will be relatively modest. I wish it came with elastic mounts like in the Solo, I never hear HD seeks from my Solo I. Do you hear seeks in the P183?

This is very hard to say for sure, it will depend on the hdds and the setup itself, but i would think without suspending it will be louder.

MusicProducer wrote:

Or something else yet, in your experience/opinion? All tips are welcome

If you dont think the server + solo II is viable for you, then there are other options out there that will hold multiple hdds, you have

Antec P280, It will hold 6 mechanical +ssd slot, none are suspended but i bet you can do it. The top is open so you will need to close it with some foam.

Corsair 550DIt will hold 6 mechanical hdds, has a lot of filters and the holes are covered.

Fractal Design R4This would be imo the best if you don't go with the solo ii. By you comment i think you were referring about the odor the bitumen had, i think this was addressed by Fractal already, not sure if its odorless, but i don't find those comments anymore. What i like about this case are many things, first you can place your ssd in the back, and you still have 8 3.5 hdd slots, you can even remove them for better airflow, keep the bottom for 3 hdd setup or both if you need more. It can fit very tall heatsinks, and it uses 140mm fans, has its own fan controller with 3 settings and the fans will run fine at 5v... this is useful in case your Asus mobo have restrictions (for example my Gene IV cant lower the fans below 60% on case fan 4pins, this is an old mobo, so maybe the newers can do better, but its nice to have a fail back in case in do happen).

Some final comments,Grab a good cpu cooler like Thermalright HR-02 Macho even if you are not overclocking, and drop the fan as much as you can. Get an SSD, Samsung 840pro or Crucial M500 are good options. For the solo II i would get some fans, i personally didnt like too much the Antecs, but test them first and see what works better for you, specially with the Asus mobo and FranXpert2 (btw crosscheck the mobo you getting do have the 2 and not the 1).

Other fans to look into 120mm, Noctua NF-S12A ULN another that its getting good attention, the rpm range makes it really a nice option, but the color kills it for me, even though its insde.

Or the gold old reference fan, Nexus BASIC D12SL-12 120mm, that been a long time favorite among users here, personally i think the fans above are much better though, but this is still a good fan none the less.

If you haven't already done so, read this article for the gold standard on what can be done with a P183 v3. There are a lot of threads in the forum on DAW builds. It's probably worthwhile reading through some of those, too.

Awesome! I had missed the 'certified' articles, that Puget build is very inspiring, and the noise levels are very impressive.

It hadn't dawned on me that even the padded cases need to be padded more. I guess I'll grab one of each of the Ultimate Acoustipack and Acoustic Foam Blocks.

The solo II biggest strenght imo is its comes with suspension for the hdds, it can hold 2 suspended or 3 with the rails. Personally i think its enough with 2, the more mechnical drives you have the more risk of noise. Thats said there are ton of people that have supended a lot of hdds, so its possible, there is a lot of space between the bottom cage and the floor of the case.

I looked it over once again and I think that it makes sense how Antec did it, since it's meant as a small case. And since I only need one optical drive I could simply simply replace one with a HD. All in all, I think it's a great case, and I'm tempted to go that way. Though the Puget build probably swayed me towards the p183. I see that Puget even sells covers for the top vent! So, I could go that way, if I want the build to be super clean. Otherwise, I'll make something myself.

Abula wrote:

This is very hard to say for sure, it will depend on the hdds and the setup itself, but i would think without suspending it will be louder.

Yea, I'll miss the suspension if I go with p183. I don't think I want to mess with it in the p183 though, I guess stuffing holes with acoustic foam can compensate for the increase in noise. Otherwise, it's something that's fixable at a later stage.

Abula wrote:

Antec P280, It will hold 6 mechanical +ssd slot, none are suspended but i bet you can do it. The top is open so you will need to close it with some foam.

Corsair 550DIt will hold 6 mechanical hdds, has a lot of filters and the holes are covered. ...

Good inputs! Concerning the Fractal: I guess no matter what you go with, a computer is a toxic thing. Is bitumen better or worse than other materials, disregarding apparent smell, or lack thereof? That's the question, I don't know, tbh. There are probably sites where I could look it up, but I haven't.

Abula wrote:

Some final comments,...

Excellent stuff! I'll be go going over the fan question tonight and check out your inputs..

I'm still not quite decided on the case, but I'm certainly seeing more possibilities than at first glance with the Antecs, I like their build quality and it seems that silent/quiet is definitly possible with basically the components I had hoped to use, excellent. And I'm surprised at the low fan count needed in those silent builds, which is nice.

FYI, there's another thread somewhere on the Fractal R4. While bitumen is used, it's got a encapsulating coating on it. The smell people were complaining about (according to Fractal) was due to the type of rubber used elsewhere - that they have since replaced.

I'm also considering the p183 v3, and simply ignoring the top blower. Do owners of the v3 cover the top vent, if so, how? Will it be enough to cover it in foil, or have you cut out material to cover it up? If so, did it make any difference, - and is it even needed, in your opinion? Also, I imagine I'd want to replace the Tri-Cools, unless I can keep them low enough in RPMs to stay more or less silent. Since I'm not going to overclock or run SLI, I imagine my load temps will be relatively modest. I wish it came with elastic mounts like in the Solo, I never hear HD seeks from my Solo I. Do you hear seeks in the P183?

About the P183:1. You'd definitely want to replace the stock fans.2. Either cover the top fan hole or use an exhaust fan there (if you have more cooling need--doesn't look like you do to me).3. The stock HDD mounting with rubbers is pretty decent, just make sure you do it properly. You would get a little bit less noise with elastics, but it's probably not worth it.

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